Natalie Cole 1950-2020

We remember Natalie Cole all day today. It would have been her 70th birthday.
We remember Natalie Cole all day today. It would have been her 70th birthday.
French-Caribbean singer Adeline whose EP “Intérimes” and its subsequent remix album (“Intérimixed”) were among last year’s highlights, has come up with a new song: the warmth of her voice on the beautiful midtempo love poem “Whisper My Name” reminds me of one of my alltime favorite singers in Soul and R&B: the deeply missed Teena…
The immortal 1982 “It Should Have Been You” by the equally immortal Gwen Guthrie has been reworked in a pretty cool and stylish fashion. At first almost not recognizable, the tune is extremely slowed-down, has a strong horn part, very subtle and effective percussion work and ultra strong vocals from Izzy Chase. The project under…
Both of my turntables with belt drives quit their work in the course of a few days recently. The only alternative: a direct drive turntable. Throughout my years in the clubs of 90s Berlin, the standard was, and I guess still is, the Technics 1210. The next best bet clearly is the Audio-Technica 140 XP…
There is much more to the accordion than a classical, folk, or Tango approach. I have written here several times about the magic accordion playing by French master Vincent Peirani who just released his latest album “Living Being”. Now, in the very successful Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic series curated by ACT Music chief Siggi Loch,…
Earlier today, the first 35 acts for this year’s North Sea Jazz Festival have been announced. We’re planning on visiting Rotterdam again for the weekend of July 12th to 14th. Confirmed are superstars such as Diana Krall, Bobby McFerrin, Jamie Cullum, and Burt Bacharach. Also on the agenda, man of the moment Kamasi Washington, Joshua…
1970 was the year when Jackie Moore had her biggest hit, the gold disc-awarded “Precious, Precious”. Her first album, a collection of singles called “Sweet Charlie Babe”, was released in 1973. And she only released four albums in total. Unforgettable remains her disco hit from 1979, “This Time Baby”, originally recorded by The O’Jays. The…